


A Batgirl's Robin

by Mari_UC



Series: JayTim - Just a Nightmare [3]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics), Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: Babs POV, Bat Family, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Steph pov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-13
Updated: 2018-07-13
Packaged: 2019-06-09 15:59:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15271053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mari_UC/pseuds/Mari_UC
Summary: Is there a proper reply to finding out your ex was stabbed by his boyfriend?Probably yelling at him and threaten to castrate him was a bit over the top, but Stephanie was so done with everything. She’d been worried sick on the way here and Babs was doing little to calm her nerves, focusing on creating and overseeing patrol routes. Patrol. As if that was somehow important when Tim was just stabbed. Stabbed.Granted, at the time she didn’t knew much other than the image on the screen on Oracle’s computers, but that told her next to nothing about what was going on with Tim.---A little side story to Familiar Pain that shows Babs and Steph finding out about Tim's injury.





	A Batgirl's Robin

Barbara looked down to her cellphone, feeling the worry and anger take hold of her.

Tim had been hurt. By Jason.

Dick had told her what had happened, he obviously hadn’t just called to inform, and she could hear the worry and the anxiety sweeping in Dick’s voice. He was probably thinking about carrying the weight of the family’s mental and emotional health on his shoulders, probably thinking about how to comfort and help both of his brothers, and probably keeping up with Bruce, who would pour all his frustrations and fears out on the streets.

Barbara looked at the computers in front of her, thinking…

If Jason follows Bruce’s steps and goes out to the field like that… after hurting Tim, Gotham will become a bloodbath. It wouldn’t be long until he made a mistake, too much force, too little aiming, some asshole making the wrong comment or even committing the wrong crime. And it would be Bruce v Jason all over again. And every single creep would sense the tension between the Hood and the Bat. Without Tim to act as a buffer, any confrontation would lead to a massive fuck-up.

Not to mention Two Face’s out. So is the Penguin. And any of those two could spark a flame and Bruce and Jason will fall for it, trying to dish out their anger. And one of them, probably Jason, will take it out on the thugs.

And then it will be Batman v. Hood.

Gotham wasn’t ready for a repeat of _that_ particular nightmare.

 _Jason_ …

Kid was probably battering himself up about this. Depending on how it went, he was either taking his anger on the family or bottling it up in a self-hating spiral. Either option wasn’t pretty. She might have a conversation with him. Stop him from going too far either way.

And Dick… She’ll have to have a talk to him too, preventing him from running himself ragged taking everything into himself. There was little she could do to help them… She ran her hands over her head thinking about it. _Well, there was the one thing she could do_.

She wheeled into the computers and hailed the communicators for Helena.

“Babs?” Helena’s sleepy voice came over the phone. Barbara didn’t stopped for niceties.

“Huntress. I need you to come back to Gotham” She was using her work voice, her O voice, and it had the desired effect, as Helena sounded far more aware in her next sentence “What is it?” and Babs could hear the bed creak, meaning she’d either sat or stood attentive.

“The Bat’s gonna need help patrolling the city.” She said.

Helena huffed, and Babs heard the bed creak again; so she probably had let herself fall again into it. “Did he actually asked you this?” Helena asked and Babs could hear her eyes rolling “Or is this going to be one of those ‘ _I think this is the right thing’_ where D and I end up in the wrong side of a Bat-Glare, because I don’t think I’m up to...”

“Tim was stabbed” She said interrupting her and forgoing the codenames. If someone was monitoring this call, this triple-encrypted, five-times firewall-protected call, they either were authorized, or deserved to know their names.

Helena was silent for half a second and then she cursed loudly and said “I’ll take a plane now.”

“Thanks, H.” Babs said and then moved to her computer “I’ve got you booked, first class. 15:00.” It was the earliest from Hawaii, where Helena had gone for a short spring break. “See you there.” H said before hanging.

With Helena, they could have someone to buffer Jason and Dick. They didn´t shared much, but Helena’s no-nonsense attitude actually could help them keep the peace. Now they needed someone to keep the peace in Gotham, and the third member of the Birds was just the candidate.

Babs then moved to Dinah, she was supposed to be on Star, so chances were she was sleep as well. However, Dinah answered almost immediately, although really pissed “Babs? You know what time it is?”

“04:35” she answered with Star’s hour in mind. “I need you in Gotham, D.” Again, bed creak of attentiveness, although this time also a groan, which meant Oliver was eavesdropping.

“What happened?” Dinah asked.

“It’s Tim. He was stabbed” she said, again gaining a curse, but unlike Helena, Dinah actually asked about it. “Fuck, what happened? How is he?”

“An accident. Apparently Jason stabbed him in his sleep.” Babs said in a sigh.

“Holy fuck. Is Tim ok?” Babs stopped typing the modification of Oliver’s Jet flight plans to account for a Gotham stop, and actually thought about her question. _Tim… I… have no idea._ “I- I’m not sure.” She said honestly “I know he’s out of the woods for now. Don’t have more intel than that” she said truthfully feeling something uncomfortable settle on her throat.

“Shit, poor kid.” Dinah said “I’ll take Ollie’s plane. Talk to Roy to see if he wants to go there. He’s taken a liking to Tim since he started dating Jay.” Babs hummed knowingly, Jason had mentioned it.

“Sure thing. I’ll fill in the fights plans so you don’t have a problem.” She answered and hung the call just after Dinah’s final “Thanks, Babs. I’ll see you there.” passed through.

Barbara sighed and rest her head on the desk.

 _What the fuck is her problem?_ _God._

Tim’s hurt and her first thoughts are about Bruce, Jay and Dick… She hadn’t thought about how this was going to affect _Tim_. You know, the _actual_ _stab_ _victim_.

She rationalized it was normal.

It’s not that she didn’t liked Tim. She loved him. Out of all of the Bats he’s the one she can geek out about computers, and he’s one of the few ones that can follow her mental process without her having to explain her connections. Plus, it was Dick’s brother, which meant it was _her_ brother, ok, maybe a first cousin. A _very dear_ first cousin.

But she would always have a special place in his heart for both Dick, obviously, and Jason. They were her first brothers. Tim had a family of his own, and by the time he came round the Joker had happened. She’d taken part in training him in tech and computing, but that was about it. Sure they shared, and when the need had arisen, she had been there for him, and viceversa, But… _God, was she awful for thinking like this about Tim, when he’s probably fighting for his life?_

She closed her eyes and tried to focus as her mind insisted on bringing on the images of an injured Tim and she felt a darkness settle in her bones when she realized there were too many mental images she could conjure about the boy being hurt.

 _Far_ too many. She shook her head.

She’s never been good at sugarcoating her options and decisions. She loved Tim, but right now, the truth was that she was more worried about everyone else’s reaction to Tim’s injury.

She remembers what her own injury did to her family; to his father, when someone’s injured, people usually worry about the injured, but their families usually end up just as hurt. And right now, she needed to be there for Tim’s family.

Let Dick, Jason and Bruce worry sick about Tim, they’ll make sure he recovers; in the meantime, she’ll worry they won’t overexert themselves while worrying.

They’ll be Tim’s safe net. She’ll be theirs.

A beep drew her from her mind and a window popped on her fourth monitor. Stephanie was coming down to the Firewall, and she briefly remembered Steph’s plan to have breakfast and train with her. They were supposed to go over Steph’s new accessories. Barbara looked closely at the footage. Steph was listening to something and it looked like she was whistling a tune. Probably some pop song on her phone.

So, she didn’t knew.

 _Great_. She’ll have to break the news to her protégé that her ex-boyfriend and current best friend (who also happened to be something of a close cousin to Barbara) was hurt by _his_ boyfriend (who also happened to be something of a brother to Barbara).

That looked fun, and not at all awkward. And to top it all off. She had no new intel.

 _Right_.

She needed to remedy that. Steph will take five more minutes to arrive to the computers. She logged on to the Batcomputer and commandeered the cameras. It was easy enough to find all of the Bats. Bruce was in the computer, the infirmary was currently overcrowded, with everyone else staying there. Jason was sitting on a chair next to Tim, Cass opposite to him, Dick was by the edge of the bed, reclining against the frame, and Damian was on the door, ready to bolt.

The image told her enough about the dynamics of the family, right now. Jason was obviously feeling guilty and she readjusted her assessment of him going out to take his anger on Gotham’s streets. He was looking at the bed and Babs was really surprised to notice his slumped figure, like he was giving up on hope. Had she not seen the faces of everyone else in the room, she’d thought he was already grieving.

 _Although_ , if what Dick had said was true, he might not be grieving Tim, but rather his relationship with Tim. This attack, accidental as it might be, will be a hard blow on those two. Jay had confided on Barbara ages ago about his growing feelings for Tim. He’d been overcome by grief about hurting him in the past, and she had sensed how he was working restlessly to move past that anger and guilt and into showing Tim a different Jason. One more reminiscent of his early years as a Robin.

He was suddenly glad Dinah was bringing Roy. Jay would need the emotional support.

Cass was sitting on the edge taking in everyone. She was focusing particularly on Jason, and Barbara couldn’t help feel slightly less guilty at seeing she wasn’t the only one focusing on how to help him out. She could probably count on Cass to be a force to keep the family from hurting too much with this.

Dick… he was being Dick. Bleeding with his need to keep his brothers from hurting. That Grayson brand of worry, hope and over-eagerness that warmed everyone around him. Or maybe that was just Barbara projecting and it was only her that was taken by Dick’s aura.

But the one that draw all her attention was Damian. It was no secret Damian and Tim had a contentious relationship. They were constantly at war with one another, but she believed they loved each other. Tim had gone to great lengths to leave the assassination attempt past him; and Damian had grown a lot into his position, to the point he felt comfortable letting people in.

So, it was really bizarre to see Damian’s patently hostile face. There was something else going on there. Damian had seen or done something that had to do with this attack. Dick hadn’t mentioned anything, but Barbara knew he was in on it, considering the constant glances at him, Jason and Tim.

Something else was going on at Wayne Manor.

_Yeah. Big surprise there…_

Footsteps behind her broke her concentration and she turned off the monitors and wheeled back to face Steph. She was smiling at her and Barbara felt like crap for having to break the news. Something must have shown on her face because Steph stopped dead on her tracks and worry showed on her face before she moved quickly towards her.

“What is it, Babs?” Steph said coming close to her and crouching in front of her. Barbara made a questioning face “What makes you think…” but Steph stopped her from questioning and swatted her hand in a gesture that made it certain she wasn’t taking any bullshit excuses as she added “You’re crying.”

“Oh” Barbara raised a hand to her cheeks and noticed a couple solitary tears trailing down her cheek. She hadn’t noticed. She cleaned them fast. _Huh._ She must have been more affected than her brain had anticipated. With the calls and the assessments on the family she hadn’t let herself _feel_ the news. “It’s…” She stopped herself before the reply formed and she said the wrong thing. _It’s NOT nothing_.

“Tim was hurt” Steph’s reaction was immediate and Barbara had to add quickly “He’s fine.” This seemed to ease Steph and before she had a time to question, Babs continued. “He was stabbed. It was an accident. He’s already been seen by Dr. Thompkins and Alfred has him monitoring.”

She tuned on the cameras and let her soak in the images. “I… should go to the Manor” Steph said taking a step back before looking at her. “ _We_ should go to the Manor” Barbara shook her head. She couldn’t leave.

“I need to coordinate the Birds’ arrivals” she said and Steph crossed her arms glaring at her. “Babs, I’m pretty sure you’ve already put all contingencies in place to care for their arrival, and you won’t be needed here until their planes land, which I bet, is well into the afternoon.” _Touché._

She looked at the monitors and bit her lip. She wanted to go. She… she could see Tim, maybe talk to Dick and Jay. She really wanted to talk to Dick… “Well. I’m sure Cass will appreciate some feminine company.” She said instead, resting on the feminine angle to hide the need to see her former fiancé.

“Tim will too” Said Steph “And so will Dick” she added with a small smile towards her as she left backtracked probably to bring the car. Barbara smiled despite herself. Steph had always liked the idea of her and Dick together. ‘ _I ship it_ ’ she’d said ‘ _A Batgirl should be with her Robin_ ’. It had been a long time ago.

Back when she and Dick were thinking about going back together.

Back when Steph held hope she and Tim could go back to be a _thing,_ better than what they’d had in the beginning.

Funny, how no Batgirl had ended with a Robin. Maybe it was that Batgirls were supposed to _pin after Robins_. That seemed to align much better with reality.

She hated it. Being defined by _her_ Robin. She was Batgirl. She was Oracle. She was far more than a supporting character for her male counterpart. And she was going to held Gotham together while Red rested, and Hood and Batman worried.

_-_-_-_

_Is there a proper reply to finding out your ex was stabbed by his boyfriend?_

Probably yelling at him and threaten to castrate him was a bit over the top, but Stephanie was _done_.

She’d been worried sick on the way here and Babs was doing little to calm her nerves, focusing on creating and overseeing patrol routes. _Patrol._ As if that was somehow important when Tim was just stabbed. _Stabbed_.

Granted, at the time she didn’t knew much other than the image on the screen on Oracle’s computers, but that told her next to nothing about what was going on with _Tim_.

Tim, who could be dying for all she knew, because she hadn’t known anything about the wound. _What if the knife was dirty? Tim didn’t had a spleen; an infection could kill him._

_What if the stab had nicked the liver? Tim couldn’t live without two organs._

_What if it creates an embolism in his veins?_

What if… The what if’s were killing her and Babs calm and collected demeanor was _getting_ to her. She didn’t said anything because Babs had her own way of grieving and worrying. And just because Steph’s was to overthink it and fill herself with dread, didn’t meant Babs had to, too. But she was just too wired up not to let it bother her. _So, sue her_.

But, that – all the What if’s – was half the reason why, when she walked into the room and found Dick and Jason talking softly next to the bed and Cass looking at them, she’d just ignored everything and walked straight to Tim, who looked absolutely like shit. His skin was paper-white and his eyes looked sunken. Probably that last one had more to do with the huge black bags under his eyes; and Steph wasn’t completely sure that had to do with the accident.

An accident she didn’t knew anything about. Which led to her asking Dick about it. Who informed her about Jason’s involvement, which had brought on the particular scenario of her yelling at Jason and threatening to cut his bits and feed them to him.

Because of all the things she’d expected, Dick telling her Jason had been the one to stab him while they slept wasn’t one she was expecting. So she went red and started yelling, until Dick grabbed her and moved her out of the infirmary.

“He didn’t meant to hurt him, Steph. It was an accident” Steph looked at Dick long and hard and sighed. _Of course he hadn’t._

She had long ago accepted that Tim wasn’t going to be hers again. And she had made her peace with the fact that Jason actually was probably a better boyfriend for Tim than her.

She was always a little too soft on Tim. And she let him get away with more shit that she should have; and she depended way too much on him and allowed him to do the same.

Jason was able to put up with Tim’s shit, and still was just as bullheaded when Tim was being too much. They made so much sense that it hurt, because for a long time she’d thought that was _her_ place. At Tim’s side.

She’d made peace that he wasn’t hers. Not anymore. And her place was taken by someone that, even though it still hurt to admit it, was better for Tim than her.

So no, she didn’t for a second believed Jason would purposefully hurt Tim. But then again, Jason obviously still insisted on sleeping armed; something Tim had told her he’d been trying to prevent him from doing. So Jason deserved to have his feet held to the fire. He deserved to know she won´t stand and watch Tim go blinded by his feelings and end up in a cot, or worst, in a coffin, because Jason wasn’t able to keep his fucking head in clear.

“I know he didn’t, Dick. But, he still hurt him.” She said between gritted teeth at Dick and pointing at Jason. “And I’ll still feed him his balls if he hurts him again.” She sentenced. It was true. She would. No one should hurt Tim like this.

He’d managed to escape the bullshit whirlwind that started with a lot of death and ended with Damian’s resurrection. Two, nearly three years in which all hell broke loose around Tim and he lost his parents, Kon, Bart, her, his mantle, his family and his spleen. All while moving through a barrage of crises and chaos that somehow hadn’t broken him… them. Every- _fucking_ -one.

And now, couple years later, things are starting to look up. She won’t let it go down again.

She was too afraid, every time, that this time it will break them. She had been afraid, every time she heard about a mission gone south or a family member being hurt.

_I need vacations._

_Fuck, we all need vacations._

“Come on, Jay will cut his own hand before hurting him.” Dick said trying to lighten the mood. She rolled her eyes but granted the point. She _had_ already came to that conclusion. “He… He’s guilty enough as it is. You should have seen him earlier… He looked more dead than alive.” Steph also granted him that point. Normal Jason wouldn’t have let himself be yelled at like that. Not without a snarky bite. At least.

_Still…_

“Good” she said. She didn’t meant it. Jason was actually one of her favorite people in Gotham, and had helped her ease into the role of Batgirl, but Jason deserved a little pain. She still remembers the broken bones and bruised body from Tim’s multiple confrontations against Jason. She’ll always remember Tim’s broken heart when Jason pulled back and said he wasn’t going to go forward with their relationship.

She’d felt like knives were running under her skin having to comfort the man she believed to be the love of his live for being unable to get together with someone else. That was a special kind of hell, right there. _Ex-girlfriend-zoned_.

She wondered if Babs felt like this watching Dick with someone else.

Dick. The same Dick, who was currently looking at her with pressed lips and a pleading gaze.

_…_

_Oh, hell no._

“No way.” She said looking at Dick like he’d lost his mind “I’m not apologizing.”

Dick’s pressed lips told her she’d read the message right. “He hurt Tim” she said trying to reason with Dick. She didn’t care what she’d said, or if Jason was currently paying penance, he’d stuck a knife to Tim’s side, he deserved a little yelling.

“Steph, he’s hurting, bad.” Dick said. And again. Steph could see it. But it didn’t… And then Dick was looking at her, with big bright blue eyes. And… _Oh, god, these are seasoned vigilantes, how the hell did they mastered the puppy eyes thing?_

Because it was _them_. Tim did those too. They weren’t as good as Dick’s but… still.

Even Damian, when he wanted, and he allowed himself to do them, could pull the wet big bright eyes that didn’t allowed chance of rebuttal.

Funny, how no woman in the team ever did them. It was a male bat thing.

Or better, a male _Robin_ thing. Because even Bruce’s _Brucie_ was above the puppy-eye thing.

“Ugh. Fine. But I’m not being nice about it.” She said walking back into the infirmary and taking in the sight of Babs holding Tim’s hand on her own and talking softly to Jason. She walked up to them and crossed her arms over her chest. She could do this. If only, because Tim would hate to see her fighting his boyfriend when he wakes up. She’ll talk to him and make sure to keep an eye out on them.

Jason was looking at her and he seemed ready to take on a second yelling. She sighed and relaxed her stance

“Look. I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt, if only because I think you might be just as good as he wants to believe you to be” she said pointing at Tim. Jason lowered his gaze and Steph saw the pain Dick was talking about. _God, what is it with Bats and self-hating?_ “Jason, I… this really doesn’t help my belief in you.” She said honestly. It doesn’t matter that this was an accident. The hurt will remain. “You’re gonna have to prove to me that you are worthy of him before I can trust you with Tim again.” _I’ll still chop your balls if he’s hurt._ She looked at him and saw that he received the message.

Steph sighed, he was too out of it still. She really couldn’t stay mad at him, so she grabbed his bicep and gave him a little squeeze, to reassure him that she still believed in him. Despite the anger.

She looked back at Tim and sighed, excusing herself to everyone and walked back out. She couldn’t…

She couldn’t see Tim like this.

She walked up the Manor, after exchanging a few courtesy words with Bruce. He was obviously submerging himself in work to prevent himself from thinking about Tim. She wished she could do that, but she was in a college break and it was barely 10 a.m. She reached the first lounge and dropped herself in a love seat covering her eyes with the crook of her arm and letting her legs dangle from the armrest.

Tim was hurt.

It shouldn’t hurt her _this_ much.

But it did. And she couldn’t wrap her head around why. Because yes, he was Tim, and he was – and probably always will be – one of the most important people in her life. God, he was her first love. Real love. Not puppy love, not hot-guy crush.

Earth-shattering, light-headed, butterfly in stomach, heart-wrenching love.

And he was hurting. And she couldn’t do anything. And that hurt too fucking much.

“He’ll be fine” Steph didn’t even tried to open her eyes to see Cass. She just groaned and stood there while she felt Cass come over and sat on the floor next to her. She raised her arm to look at Cass and used her other hand to squeeze her shoulder “I know. Doesn’t mean I don’t worry though.”

“It was scary” Cass said, and that peeked her interest. She turned and looked at her. “Were you there?”

“What…” _What happened?_ Cass grimaced before talking about it. Steph could see whatever had happened had affected Cass.

“Nightmare… Tim was… in bed. Jason was ha—halluci.” _Hallucinating_ she provided and Cass nodded. “I helped Bruce. The Kris was…” And she made a gesture to her stomach. “Jason was… in… uh… he didn’t… reacted?”

“He was out of it? Like, catatonic?” At Cass’s face Steph explained the concept and she nodded, Steph could see Cass silently mouthing the word, probably rolling it in his mouth, getting used to the feeling of the word. Cass still did this with new words.

Steph closed her eyes and could practically see the event play in her head. Tim sleeping in Jason’s bed, awaken by a nightmare, Jason perceives a threat and neutralizes it only to realize he’d hurt Tim.

No wonder Jason was acting subdued.

“The Kris… had Sleeping Ash” Cass continued, and the confusion must have shown in Steph’s face because she clarified. “League poison. For… sleeping. And then, Dr. T arrived. Dick… he was also here.” Cass was evidently done talking so Steph draw herself into her mind. She knew Cass wouldn’t care, considering how she also did it form time to time. 

By Cass’s account, the attack had been a hallucination that drew Jason to stab Tim. With his own Kris. Something that he’d never consciously do, not only because he wouldn’t hurt Tim, but also because that Kris was a symbol to Jason. He’d cleansed that Kris. He used it as a totem, to remember himself never to kill again. And in case she needed more evidence, hurting Tim had driven him into a non-responsive state.

She mentally cursed. Now I can’t even be angry at the man who hurt Tim.

Great.

“He’ll be fine.” Cass must have seen the mental struggle and decided Steph was conflicted about Tim’s recovery. The idea that Tim might not recover hadn’t even crossed Steph’s mid. Yes, he’s in danger, and yes, she’d considered the possibility of complications; but never death. Never not-recovery. He… He was Tim. Tim didn’t die… Tim… actually was the only Robin that hadn’t either died, or being considered dead by the family.

Jason and Damian had _actually_ died. Dick had faked it during the Spiral thing and she’d faked her dead during the Gang Wars. Tim had been the only Robin not to “ _die_ ” Not even when going against Ra’s.  “I know he will. Fuck he was fine after losing a liver on the fucking Iranian dessert, all by himself. This is nothing. But still…”

“You´re angry” Cass cut her and Steph was slightly taken aback by it.

 _Angry_.

She... was “Yeah I am. He’s hurt Cass. Tim’s hurt. I…” _I’m angry because of it._

Because Tim doesn’t deserve to be hurt. He doesn’t. He’s hurt enough for a lifetime. For several lifetimes. Yet, shouldn’t that made her worried, maybe even a little upset and nervous, not angry. But then… Then it had been Jason. Jason had hurt Tim. Jason who was supposed to care and protect Tim. And Steph gave a shit about Tim’s _not needing protection_ bullshit. Tim needed someone to take care about love and protect him. And Jason was supposed to be that person. Him. _Not Steph_. “You know how I feel about him. I… Seeing him like that… it’s not right. And knowing that it was Jason who put it there… It’s worst Cass.”

“I know” Cass said. _No you don’t._

Steph sighed. Because that was just half of it.

And it was petty, and it was stupid, and it _hurt_ so much. And she hated herself a little for just thinking about it. But…

But, _she_ wouldn’t have hurt Tim. Not like this.

She didn’t had to carry around a PTSD bullshit. She didn’t slept with a knife under her pillow. She didn’t wake in the middle of the night stabbing people.

If Tim was with her this wouldn’t have happened.

And it was unfair. And stupid. And Steph should be _over_ this by now. But _her Tim_ was hurt, and if he was with her, instead of with Jason, this wouldn’t have happened. And Steph hated herself for even thinking about this when Tim would be only half happy if he was with her. And Jason would be miserable and further away from the Family. And they both would still be carrying around so much UST it would be impossible to _breathe._

And they both deserved to be happy.

And she shouldn’t be even thinking about this when Tim’s drugged and Jason’s swimming in guilt. She’s stupid and selfish and an idiot who can get over the child-crush turned lover turned _best friend._

“He’ll be fine” Cass said. Again. Steph sighed, this time out loud and said “He better be.”

She needed to cut her train of thought. She needs something else to do. She stood up, obviously startling Cass, who expected her to wallow in her thoughts for a bit longer. But she can’t do that, because she’s obviously not as _over_ this thing as she’d thought, and she couldn’t allow herself to think about it. She could do it later; when her thought wouldn’t be fueled by Tim’s hurt and her own anger.

“Come on. I haven’t had breakfast.” She said. She was supposed to do so with Babs. “Me neither” Cass admitted, and they both went to the kitchen.

With Alfred catching some sleep after being waken in the middle of the night to assist a surgery, it would probably be a good idea to fix everyone some snacks or else the household wouldn’t eat until the old man finished lunch.

Having something to occupy his mind with, Steph felt some of her mind ease into the morning and some of the anger leave her body. She’ll have to talk to Babs and include herself in the Bird’s rooster for taking care of Gotham. She’ll need something to do with herself if she’s not to go crazy about this.


End file.
